


Running in Circles

by cheese007



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, cross country au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26010298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheese007/pseuds/cheese007
Summary: Clarke Griffin and Lexa Woods are star cross country runners for their rival high schools. They have been at each other's throats since day one, but when an unfortunate circumstance forces them to work together, Clarke begins to think that the tension between them is not just hatred and rivalry.
Relationships: Clarke Griffin & Lexa, Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 34
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

Clarke focused on her breathing as she sprinted the last 50 meters of her workout. She was trying to block out the equally heavy breathing of the brunette girl running next to her. 'Lexa Woods,' Clarke thought with disgust, 'God, I hate her.' When they got across the line that marked their endpoint, she could not tell if she had beat her, a fact that seemed to frustrate the other girl just as much as it did Clarke. Lexa glared at Clarke with her piercing green eyes before jogging off to go talk to her coach.

The two girls were the senior captains of the girls’ cross country and track teams at their rival schools, Clarke at Arkadia High and Lexa at Polis Academy. They both had the top times for their respective teams in every event they ran, whether it was the 5k for cross country in the fall, or the 1000 for track in the spring. They were easy rivals, constantly pushing themselves to beat the other. It was almost even, too, the number of wins they had was almost exactly the same. Clarke had exactly one more than Lexa, solely because Lexa had a minor injury that caused her to run only two events in the second to last meet of the spring season of their junior year, rather than her usual three.

The two schools separately did not have much money, so they agreed to share a track so that they could afford to build a shared stadium. This meant that Clarke saw a whole lot more of Lexa then she would have liked. Today, a Saturday practice which was unusual in itself, was unusual in that they had the same workout, a coincidence that they both disliked because they had to give 100% on what would have normally been a relaxed workout. They could never seem to let the other win. 

Clarke stuck her tongue out at Lexa’s turned back and then walked over to her coach, an older man with salt and pepper hair, named Kane.  
“Do we have lift today, Kane?” Clarke asked, sitting down and starting to gently stretch her legs.

“No, but I do have to talk to you and Bellamy after practice about some new changes to the program this year” Kane replied. Bellamy was the captain of boys’ cross country team at Arkadia, and a friend of Clarke’s. A meeting like this was not unusual at this time of year, the season was just getting started, and they still had not finalized their meet schedule or figured out how they were going to afford transportation to the aforementioned meets.

After the remainder of the team had finished the workout and chatting while stretching, Clarke found Bellamy and headed over to where Kane was standing in the shade of a large oak tree. Clarke noticed that he was talking to the Polis team coach, a serious-looking woman. Clarke tried and failed to remember a time that she had seen Kane talking to anyone on the Polis team, much less their coach.  
“Hey, Bellamy, have you ever seen Kane talk to her before?” Clarke asked, wondering if she was missing something.

“Who? Anya?” He clarified, seeing Clarke’s confused look. “The Polis coach.”

Clarke nodded, still staring at the pair, trying to read their body language.

“I haven’t, but I’m sure they’ve talked before, and even if they haven’t, I’m sure Kane has a good reason for doing it now.” 

Clarke didn’t respond, as they were in earshot now, and she was trying to hear what Kane and Anya could possibly be talking about. However, the two coaches had stopped talking and turned to greet them.

Before Kane could properly introduce Anya to Bellamy and Clarke, Lexa and the Polis boys’ team captain, a boy Clarke quickly recognized as Bellamy’s sister, Octavia’s, boyfriend, Lincoln. Clarke glared over at Lexa, and before she could ask any questions, Lexa beat her to asking the one burning in the back of her throat.

“What are we meeting about? And why are they here?” Lexa gestured with mild disgust to Clarke and Bellamy.

“Well,” Kane stated, “For us to announce this, all four of you must be here.” Clarke’s mind raced through the possibilities, but could not find a single reason why all four of them must hear something together. Lexa’s face had the color drained out of it, Clarke noticed. She had clearly thought of something, and it was not good.

Kane continued on, “There’s no easy way to say this. Because of the recent budget cuts and lack of interest in the program, the school district has asked us to combine cross country and track teams. I will act as head coach, and Anya will be my assistant.”

The group exploded into chaos. Lexa’s worst fears seemed to have been confirmed, and Clarke did not like it any better than she did. After fielding a few basic questions about practice times and transportation, Kane finally said: “Look, guys, I know this is hard, but I think this will be good for us. We could really thrive as a team, just think of how much faster our times will be!”

Clarke rolled her eyes, knowing that he was right, but she would still have to share a team with Lexa. 'Fuck Lexa,' she thought. 

“What about captainship?” Bellamy asked. It was an important question, Clarke realized, she needed the label to help get her into college.

Anya broke her silence, her voice just as serious as her face, “You will become co-captains. Lexa and Clarke, and Bellamy and Lincoln. You better figure out how to get along because you will be working closely together.”

Clarke looked over and made eye contact with Lexa, who seemed just as angry as Clarke was about their current situation. Lexa quickly moved her eyes away and wiped her face clean of expression to face Anya. She nodded respectfully to her coach.

“Are we dismissed?” Lexa asked. Kane replied that they were, but Lexa did not move until Anya nodded that it was okay for them to leave.

Clarke was stewing with anger still as she walked towards the locker rooms with Bellamy.

“I can’t believe we have to work with them! This is ridiculous! I can’t believe this is happening our senior year! And of course, I have to work with Miss. Perfect!” Clarke kicked an empty water bottle across the parking lot.

“Hey, it probably won’t be that bad, Clarke. They seem to know what they’re doing.” Bellamy responded. He seemed pretty unperturbed by the whole ordeal.

“That’s easy for you to say! You know Lincoln. You like Lincoln. You don’t have to work with the emotionless asshole named Lexa!” Clarke replied, red in the face. They went their separate ways, Bellamy shrugging and telling her to at least try to work with Lexa and Clarke still steaming with anger.

Clarke was about to kick the empty bottle a second time when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Lexa standing behind her. Clarke almost did not recognize her without her usual ponytail. Clarke found herself thinking about how nice her hair looked down, when she realized she was staring and remembered that she rather disliked the girl she was staring at.

“What do you want?” Clarke finally spat.

“Look,” Lexa said calmly, “I don’t like this whole ‘co-captainship’ thing any more than you do, but we need to set a schedule for practices that work for our team.”

Clarke continued to glare at her, but as much as she disliked Lexa, she knew the brunette was right. “I’ll talk to my girls tonight and I’ll let you know what works for us.” 

“Okay, here’s my number. Text me when you know.” Lexa pulled a sharpie out, grasped Clarke’s wrist with a surprisingly strong grip, and quickly but neatly wrote her number on Clarke’s forearm. Clarke grimaced, knowing how long it would take for it to wash off, before curtly nodding at Lexa, her jaw clenched, and heading into the locker room.


	2. Chapter 2

After dealing with the expected initial reaction to the news from the rather small team, Clarke finalized the possible blocks of time for the practices. She sighed heavily and pulled her thick blonde hair back into a ponytail, hoping it would help keep her calm enough to not chew out Lexa unprovoked. Clarke plugged Lexa’s number into the messaging app and sent a picture of her potential practice times breakdown with the caption “here.”

Clarke stared at the message for a moment before starting to save Lexa’s number. She wrote out the first few letters of her name before deciding that she would not give Lexa the pleasure of knowing she had a name of any kind saved in her phone. ‘Now that’s what I call a power move.’ Clarke thought self-assuredly. ‘The ball is in your court now, Woods.’

Clarke was pulled out of her mental congratulations by the vibrating of her phone—someone was calling her. Clarke looked at the smudged number on her forearm. ‘God damn it.’ It was Lexa. 

“What the fuck do you want, Woods?” Clarke practically growled at her new co-captain. She hated phone calls with a passion. She also had a funny feeling Lexa knew this. 

“I wanted to finalize the schedule with you. Would you rather start at 3:30 or 4:00?” Lexa asked, the smugness in her voice confirming Clarke’s suspicions. 

“And you couldn’t have asked me that over text? You absolutely had to call me?” Clarke retorted, cursing herself mentally for celebrating so soon. 

“I prefer calling. It’s more efficient.”

“Of course you do, fuckin’ Polis kids, think they know everything.”

“Sorry we prioritize our studies over doing whatever it is Arkadia students do. Partying their lives away, perhaps? Or vaping their lungs into oblivion?” Lexa said it so innocently that if Clarke did not know any better she would have said that Lexa was not trying to get under her skin.

“Oh fuck you, I have more wins than you do, and not to mention a perfect GPA, Woods. Don’t get a big head.” Clarke retorted starting to get truly angry with the brunette.

Lexa hummed into the phone for a moment before finally responding, “This has been very enlightening, Griffin, I’ll keep that in mind next time we speak. Good night.” With that, Lexa hung up, leaving Clarke a little speechless. 

The blonde finally sighed. ‘I guess the ball is back in my court. Good move, Woods, good move.’ Clarke moved to go back to her desk before remembering that she had never actually chosen a practice time. “3:30” She texted, cursing Lexa out again.

At practice the following Monday, Clarke ran the hardest she had run in practice in a long time because Lexa was on her tail the whole time. But Lexa was also getting on Clarke’s nerves. Lexa often spoke to her teammates in Spanish in front of Clarke, which would not have bothered her if she did not keep hearing them say her name. It drove her crazy knowing that they could talk trash to her in front of her face and she could not even defend herself. 

One day, during stretches, she walked over to Lexa and asked her “Can I sit here?”

Lexa casually replied, pointing at a spot across from her, “No, pero puedes sentarte en mi cara.” This caused her friends to burst out laughing uncontrollably Clarke opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again, realizing that she had no way to defend herself. Clearly she had been told where to sit, and it had been hilarious for Lexa’s friends. Clarke was not pleased with this and decided to learn some Spanish. She made a mental note to look up where, exactly, she had been told to sit. By the time she arrived home, however, Clarke had completely forgotten about the incident and started her homework.

After almost three weeks of practicing with the Polis team, on Friday, Clarke entered the locker room to get ready for practice. She liked getting to the locker room before the rest of the team. She enjoyed the peace and quiet to get ready in. As Clarke headed to the bathroom, nodding her head to the music she was playing through her earbuds, she heard footsteps. She stopped and paused her music, waiting excitedly to see which of her teammates had decided to join her, when she saw it was Lexa. 

The pair made eye contact, and Clarke made a face, turned back towards the bathroom, and put her music back on. When she came back out of the bathroom, the brunette was still there, looking at her almost expectantly. Clarke continued to ignore her, deciding that it was not worth fighting with her before practice. ‘After practice will be a different story.’ Clarke thought to herself.

The locker room was not large, so there was nowhere for Clarke to hide when Lexa started changing. She thought about going back to the bathroom but figured it would be suspicious. She decided her best course of action was to turn her back to the other girl. This action seemed to amuse Lexa and made her laugh to herself. “What, Griffin, never seen a girl naked before? And here I heard you were quite the player.” Lexa said.

Clarke turned back around, a little angry, only to discover that Lexa was topless in front of her. Clarke found herself looking at Lexa’s bare chest, but quickly brought her gaze up, hoping that the other girl would not notice. The glint in her eye told Clarke that she had. “Sorry I tried to give you some privacy.” Clarke replied, “It won’t happen again.” 

Lexa let herself smile just the tiniest bit before pulling a sports bra and shirt on, if Clarke had not been paying such close attention, she would not have been sure she had seen it. “Good,” Lexa said, leaving the locker room, and Clarke blushing a little, “That’s what I like to hear from my co-captain.” 

Clarke knew that Lexa was her type physically, and, yes, when they had first raced she had checked the results for Lexa’s name, but she had just assumed this was what everyone felt about their rivals. There was so much tension between them, but Clarke had always just assumed it was the competitive type, even a hatred of sorts, not, whatever Lexa had made her just feel. The more time she spent with the Latina girl, the more she was starting to realize whatever was between them was something much different than hatred.


	3. Chapter 3

Clarke spent a long time thinking about the locker room incident and decided that she had to get back at Lexa, but she was yet to figure out how exactly. Clarke got ready for practice and came to the conclusion that she would have to wait for the right opportunity. 

About halfway through practice, when she and Lexa, neck and neck as always, were finishing up their third of five 800s, Lexa bumped into Clarke. 

“Watch where you’re going, asshole.” Clarke said as meanly as she could while she was so out of breath. 

“You’re the one in my way, dumbass.” Lexa replied, equally out of breath.

They slowed to a stop at the finishing point and as Clarke was about to respond to Lexa with another insulting name, Kane seemingly appeared. “Good job, girls, your times are getting faster.”

Lexa slapped Clarke in the back harder than what could be considered friendly and replied, “I couldn’t do it if she wasn’t pushing me so hard all of the time. Don’t you agree, Clarke?” Clarke’s name sounded unnatural and forced, but Kane did not appear to notice. 

Clarke looked at her, trying to figure out what game she was playing, before replying rather ungracefully, “Hmm? Uh, yeah.”

“And she’s good with her words.” Lexa said seriously.

Kane chuckled, “I’ll let you get back to it.” With that, he walked over to the next few girls finishing their 800.

As Clarke walked over to the start line, Lexa trailed behind, fiddling with her watch. Clarke heard Lexa say to herself, “¿Palabras, eh, Clarke? ¿Con qué más eres bueno?  
Clarke whipped around, anger rising in her chest. “What did you just say?” She growled quietly at the brunette. 

“Me? I didn’t say anything.” Lexa replied, positioning herself to start her fourth 800.

“I heard you say my name, Woods. Don’t play dumb with me.” 

“I’m not playing dumb. You’re dumb enough for the both of us.” And with that remark, Lexa sprinted off, with Clarke, caught by surprise, catching up fast.

A few days later, the opportunity Clarke had been dreaming of finally struck. Clarke and Lexa were the only left to shower, one day after practice, and Clarke saw her chance to return the favor. After they both started their showers, Clarke stepped out of hers, wrapped her towel around her, and stepped into Lexa’s.

“What the fuck, Griffin?” Lexa yelled, clearly caught off guard. She turned to face the wall in a futile attempt to cover herself.

“What?” Clarke asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible, but was coming off a little more embarrassed then she intended. This might have been a step further than she wanted. “I figured we could save water. I know you’re big into that. I thought I would join you.” 

Lexa shook her head in disbelief as Clarke took her towel off her incredibly toned body. Clarke knew she was attractive. She had been with enough people to be sure of herself on that front, but Lexa was staring as if she was not quite sure she could stop. To Clarke’s surprise, Lexa recovered quickly and turned to face the blonde, her face quietly challenging her to continue to be so bold. “You can join me if you like, Griffin, but only if you soap my back, I can never seem to reach the middle properly.” Lexa’s voice was a little huskier than usual, but she sounded confident as ever. 

Clarke was not one to back away from a challenge, especially if the challenge was one issued from Lexa. ‘This is just a power struggle.’ Clarke told herself, ‘Nothing more, nothing less.’ 

“Okay, but only if you do the same for me.” Clarke said, hoping Lexa would back down. Unfortunately for her, Lexa simply nodded and handed her the soap bottle. Clarke’s throat was unnaturally dry when she started to wash Lexa’s back, but Clarke chalked it up to the adrenaline of the challenge. Nothing says rivals like showering together. 

When it came Lexa’s turn to wash Clarke, Clarke was sure that the other girl would be able to hear her heartbeat through her chest, or at least feel it, but if Lexa did, she did not say anything. Clarke slowly relaxed under Lexa’s slow, rhythmic circles on her back. When Lexa finished, Clarke turned around a little too quickly to rinse her back off. She came face to face with the brunette, and if she did not know any better, she would have said that Lexa looked nervous. 'Is she blushing?' Clarke thought, confused. 'It must just be the heat of the shower.'

“Cat got your tongue, Woods, or are you so attracted to me that you find yourself speechless?” Clarke teased. She smiled triumphantly when Lexa did not respond. She had won this round. Clarke grabbed her towel, and quickly left, happy with the fact that she had finally gotten back at Lexa, but also unnerved. She had felt something weird in the shower, she had been way too nervous for Lexa to touch her. This time, Clarke realized, it was definitely not the competitive spirit that had stirred in her chest. She shook her head to clear it. This is not the time to be thinking about this, I can come back to it later.

Clarke tried her best to lose herself in her homework but kept finding herself thinking back to what she had felt in the shower. Eventually, she gave up on her calculus homework and grabbed her sketchpad instead. Drawing and running had a similar effect on her. They both helped her clear her head and allowed her to think through things. Clarke started doodling and slowly let her mind wander. She thought about the fights she had got into at practice. She still was not sure what Lexa had said to her during their 800s workout. 

‘Oh shit, the gym,’ Clarke thought. ‘I meant to look that up. She’s probably just been cursing me out in Spanish, that asshole.’ But when Clarke looked up curse words in Spanish, none of them seemed familiar. Then she came across a word she recognized “cara.” It had been in an insult saying something or other about how the recipient of the insult borrowed his face from a deformed baboon. But none else in that sentence was familiar, so Clarke sat and tried to remember exactly what Lexa had said in the gym that day. She replayed the moment over and over in her mind until she was pretty sure she had at least the phonetic spelling.

She pulled up a website that allowed her to say the words into the computer rather than risk misspelling them. “Puedes sentarte en mi cara.” Clarke said, the unfamiliar words stumbling off of her lips. The computer, by some small miracle, still managed to understand what she was saying and translate it for her. ‘What the actual hell?’ Clarke thought, her mouth dropping open, ‘This can’t be right. There is no fucking way she would ever say this to me.’ 

She continued to stare at the words on her screen. They read “You can sit on my face.” Clarke was in shock. 

‘Well, it seems that I’m not the only one.’


	4. Chapter 4

Clarke had no idea what she was supposed to do. After about half an hour of just staring at her computer screen in disbelief, she decided she needed some honest advice, so she called Octavia. 

Octavia was Bellamy’s little sister. She had the same good looks and dark hair as him, but she was much quicker to anger. She also happened to be dating a Polis boy, Lincoln, Bellamy’s co-captain. Clarke tended to go to her for advice, knowing that Octavia would always speak her mind, even if it hurt Clarke’s feelings. She was generally a good friend to have around.

As soon as Octavia picked up the phone Clarke was talking. “Octavia, I think Lexa has a thing for me because of some stupid comment she made and I don’t know what to do because I don’t know if I’m into her or if I hate her and my feelings are so convoluted. Help!” Clarke spoke so quickly that even she was not sure of what she just said.

“Well hello to you too, Clarke. How am I? Oh, I’m fantastic. How about you? Oh, you’re good? That’s good. Now that we got those pesky niceties out of the way. What’s up?” Octavia replied sounding rather snarky.

“Sorry, how are you? I’m just so stressed about this. I really don’t know what’s going on.”

“I’m good! You never have to worry about me, Clarke, I can handle myself. But stressed about what? I didn’t understand a single word you said earlier.”

Clarke explained everything that had happened between her and Lexa, from what Lexa had said to her in the gym, to what had happened in the showers. There was a dead silence from Octavia’s end when Clarke had finished. “I really need your help with this. I have no idea what’s happening. I thought I hated her and the feeling was mutual, but now I’m not so sure on either end.” Clarke said, after a few more moments of silence.

“Wow, I just—wow, you’ve really gotten yourself into a mess this time.” Octavia finally said. “And I thought you hooking up with that blonde chick was a mess. I don’t know what to tell you, Clarke. I think you should follow your heart if it’s telling you to be with her. Not to mention she’s super fucking hot”

Clarke laughed, grateful that her friend was not judging her. She looked down at what she had been sketching—a girl—but not just any girl, Clarke realized, Lexa. She had drawn Lexa’s beautiful face and shoulders without even thinking about it. ‘God damn it.’ She thought, ‘I was really hoping I could ignore this.’

“You still there?” Octavia’s voice came through the phone. Clarke had totally forgotten that she was still there. She had lost herself for a moment thinking about a certain brunette.

“Yeah, sorry I’m still here. Thanks for all your help, O. I think I can handle it from here. How’s Lincoln?” Clarke happily listened to her friend go on about her boyfriend and then her teachers and brother. They talked for a long time about everything and nothing, while Clarke quietly started a pros and cons list about talking to Lexa. It went as follows:

Pros:  
Very attractive  
Athletic  
Intelligent  
Witty  
Maybe likes me back???

Cons:  
Goes to Polis  
Has been my arch-rival for four years  
I kind of hate her  
Maybe doesn’t like me back

Clarke looked intently at the list for a while before coming to a decision. “Octavia?” She finally said, interrupting her friend’s story about Lincoln’s dog. “I think I’m going to ask her out.”

The next day, after school, Clarke was sitting at the top of the steps with her sketchbook open in her lap. Octavia had been surprisingly supportive of her last night. She seemed to agree that something was going on, and thought that if this was what Clarke truly wanted, she should do it.  
Clarke was drawing Lexa, consciously this time. Clarke was focusing on getting her eyes to be as intensely beautiful on the page as they were in person. Clarke kept erasing pieces of them and redrawing them, knowing that no matter how good of an artist she became, she would never truly be able to capture them on the page.

However, her drawing skills were beginning to be impeded by her nervousness. She had to ask Lexa out today, before practice, or she never would. She took a deep breath, trying to still her shaking hands before giving up and just putting her sketchpad down. She tapped her foot, the nervous energy seeming to exude out of her without the distraction.

Clarke stood up and stretched her back, knowing that Lexa would arrive soon. ‘What if she says no?’ Clarke thought. ‘I’ll never live it down. She’ll ridicule me for the rest of the year. Oh God, oh God.’ Clarke began to pace and calmed down a little when she thought of what had happened in the shower the previous week. ‘There’s no way she didn’t feel the same.’ 

Clarke paused in the shadow of the wall as she heard footsteps coming around the corner of the building. It was Lexa and Coach Anya. It was not unusual to see the two together. They seemed to get along very well and often spoke in such fast Spanish at practice that even the other native speakers on the team struggled to follow. 

Clarke watched them pause about twenty yards from the end of the stairs and tried to hear what they were saying. They were speaking in their rapid Spanish, Clarke realized, and therefore she could not understand almost anything. Her name was said a few times, but that’s all she could make out and understand. 

Clarke was steeling her nerves to ask Lexa out. ‘As soon as she comes up the steps’ she told herself. Her mindset very quickly changed. Anya had just very gently caressed Lexa’s face, and right before Lexa started walking up the stairs, she kissed Anya on the cheek.

‘Well, fuck me.’ Clarke thought as she grabbed her bag and ran inside as quickly and as quietly as she could. ‘I thought I had game, asking Lexa out. Ha! She apparently is on another level. I can’t believe she’s with Anya,’


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little shorter than I'd like, but hopefully I'll have the time to make the next one longer.

Clarke sat down in the locker room, her heart pounding. She took a few deep, calming breaths, and then let herself feel what had just happened. She did not understand why her chest hurt so badly. She had only realized she liked Lexa for about eighteen hours. She was not yet ready to admit to herself that she has had a crush on the brunette since the day that they had met.

Clarke looked up from the ground to the sound of crutches coming through the locker room doors. Clarke stood up, grinned widely, and sprinted over to hug the other girl. “Raven!” Clarke almost yelled in her excitement, “You survived surgery! I’m so happy to see you!”

Raven Reyes was a tall brunette. She and Clarke had met on the track team, but had a rocky start to their friendship. They became friends their sophomore year and had even dated for a month or two after they had discovered that they had both been dating the same boy at the same time. Raven was not running this fall as she had torn her ACL when she caught her foot in a hole during a 5k race series she had been doing over the summer. She had gone into surgery the week before, and Clarke had missed her companionship.

“Ah, Clarke, you know me. Tough as nails.” Raven replied, grinning equally as widely. “But, what’s wrong? You seemed pretty down when I walked in.”

“It’s nothing.” Clarke tried to say, but something in Raven’s face and in her own gut told her she should talk about it. “Actually, it’s a lot. I figured out that I think I have a thing for Lexa.”

Clarke had expected a surprised reaction from the other girl, but she simply said, “Okay, yeah, everyone knew that already. The tension between you two is…” She almost shuddered, “Something else. Go on.”

“So I went to O for advice and she basically told me that I should ask her out on a date, and when I went to ask her today, I saw her kiss Anya. On the cheek.” Clarke clarified.

This statement got more of a reaction out of Raven. “There are so many things wrong with this part. First of all, you went to Octavia for advice? Are you an idiot? She’s a total hopeless romantic. She has no idea if Lexa wants that with you, she wants a good love story. You saw her before she dated Lincoln. You need to become friends with Lexa before you pursue anything more.” Raven looked Clarke in the eyes to make sure she was taking her seriously.

“Secondly, the Anya thing is pretty concerning, but if you did not see them actually kiss, we can’t effectively report anything to admin. Maybe we should ask her about it, if we see anything else.” Clarke nodded, Raven was right, they needed proof or at least something more than a kiss on the cheek to be taken seriously by the school.

The two girls talked for a while longer, and Raven finally convinced Clarke to relax on the Lexa front and that she was being too brash. Clarke finally started changing for practice, so distracted by her friend that she did not even notice that she had left her sketchbook, her most prized possession, at the top of the stairs.

Practice was hard. Their workout was grueling, but Lexa was unusually nice to Clarke the whole time. She even apologized for being in the way when Clarke, in a stupor, slammed right into Lexa’s back and brought them both to the ground. Clarke was so confused. ‘Where is the mean, flirty girl from Friday?’ She wondered.

She decided that this must be Lexa’s version of calling for peace, and decided to go with it. After all, how was she supposed to become friends with the other girl if she was being mean all of the time? Perhaps Lexa was trying to make nice with her for the same reasons. Regardless, Clarke was a little happier when practice ended. 

Lexa’s demeanor did not seem to extend into conversation though. She ignored Clarke’s attempts to start one. She either replied with yes’s or no’s or simply did not respond at all. Clarke’s heart sank a little. Finally, after practice, Clarke cornered Lexa.

“What is with you today?” Clarke asked, not loudly, but she was clearly angry. 

“What?” Lexa responded, “Nothing is ‘with me’ today. You’re the one acting strange. You tried to talk to me. I would call that out of character.”

“You’ve been too nice to me. What changed?” Clarke spat.

“I can’t be nice to you? Jesus, Griffin, tone it down a notch.”

“No! You’ve never been nice to me. Why start now?”

“We’re on the same team now! Stop being such an ass about it!”

“That hasn’t stopped you for the last month! What’s really going on?” 

“Fine! Anya said I should start being nice to you! Happy now?”

“Anya told you, huh? What’s with you and her anyway, Woods?”

“What do you mean what’s with us? Nothing is with us.”

“I saw you kiss her cheek this morning! It’s not right to date our coach!”

Lexa started laughing uncontrollably until she was doubled over and could barely breathe. Clarke could not help but notice how beautiful her laugh was.

“What’s so funny?” Clarke said after the brunette stood up.

Lexa wiped the tears from her eyes. “The idea of me and Anya dating. God, that’s so funny. She’s my sister.”

“Oh.” Clarke said stupidly, “I didn’t know that.”

“Clearly. I’m going to shower now. I’ll see you tomorrow Clarke”

Clarke stood for a moment, feeling like an idiot. ‘She called me Clarke. She's never done that before.' Clarke finally started slowly walking towards the locker room, completely lost in thought.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Long time no see. Sorry about the radio silence, I had my first semester of college these past few months and I have been working my ass off, which unfortunately meant that I had no time for this :( I'm on break now and can hopefully pound out the last few chapters while I'm still home. Thanks for understanding, and I hope you like this chapter!

Clarke was still in a stupor that night doing homework. She could not seem to focus long enough to get any work done no matter how hard she tried. Her brain was replaying that moment with Lexa earlier. ‘She called me Clarke. It sounded so nice, so…natural.’ Clarke took a deep breath and reached for her sketchbook just to find that it was not in her backpack. 

Clarke’s heart began to pound. She did not have a written diary, but that sketchbook was essentially the same thing, whoever found it would see into her mind and soul. ‘Where the fuck did I put it.’ Clarke thought, frantically searching her messy desk. It was nowhere to be found. The blonde closed her eyes and thought back to the last time she had used it. Her eyes flew open. The steps. She had left it on the steps. ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit. What if Lexa found it? She must have come into school right after I did.’ 

Clarke fought tears from her eyes, swallowed, and decided her best course of action was to look for it at the steps tomorrow and then think about asking Lexa. She tried not to think about all of the drawings and sketches she had done of the other girl. Even worse, the repercussions if Lexa saw them. ‘Yeah, there is no way I’m going to be able to talk to her again, much less be friends with her.' Clarke thought dejectedly. 

The next morning Clarke got up thirty minutes early and jogged the half-mile to school, not wanting to wait for the bus to look for her sketchbook. She took the stairs two at a time to get to where she had been sitting the day before. It was not there. Clarke’s chest tightened and she sat down feeling like she was going to throw up. ‘Fuck.’ She thought, putting her head in her hands.

She sat like that for a while, her stomach twisting, before finally heading into the building. Her head remained cloudy with anxiety and fear for the remainder of the day, and after the final bell, she blundered towards the locker room, only to slam straight into Bellamy. 

“Clarke!” Bellamy grinned down at her, “Just who I wanted to see.” 

He pulled his backpack onto one shoulder and looked through it for a minute before pulling out a rather large spiral-bound book. 

“My sketchbook!” Clarke cried out, tearing it from Bellamy’s hands. She flipped through it for a moment before looking back up at him. “Where did you find it?”

“Octavia gave it to me just now, she had to go make up a test or something, I don’t know. Lincoln gave it to her, apparently.” 

The knot in Clarke’s chest released and she carefully placed the book back into her bag. 

“Tell Lincoln at practice today that I said thank you so much. You know how stressed I get about other people seeing my work.” Clarke said. “Alright, I have to go get ready. Thanks again Bell.” 

Clarke turned down the hallway, her heart racing yet again, this time with pure joy. ‘Thank god Lexa wasn’t the one who found it. That would have been so embarrassing.’ 

Lexa was quieter than usual at practice. The two girls ran just as hard as they normally did, but something felt off to Clarke. It did not feel like Lexa’s heart was in it today, both in their banter and in their workout. Clarke was too giddy with her reunion with her sketchbook to say anything. She did not feel like ruining her mood by getting into another fight with Lexa. 

After they showered, Clarke and Lexa happened to leave the locker room at the same time and bumped into each other trying to get through the door.

“Oh, sorry.” Lexa apologized, “That workout was tough. I’m still not totally here mentally.” She let out a forced laugh that Clarke awkwardly joined.

“You can go first.” The two girls said in unison. They laughed again, still awkwardly, but not quite as forced.

They both tried to go out at the same time, bumped into each other, and laughed again. After this went on for another minute or two, Clarke finally left first, with Lexa right behind. They were laughing naturally now, making jokes about how Kane and Anya’s workouts left them brain dead. 

“I’m serious,” Clarke said, “The most absentminded thing I can possibly do is draw, and after that 1000’s workout I don’t even think I could sleep I’m so brain dead.”

Lexa laughed at the nonsensical joke, making Clarke blush just a little bit. “I know!” She responded, “Or the pyramid sprints they’re always making us do? Awful.” 

Clarke laughed again, her sides starting to hurt a little bit. “The last time we did those I literally had a sketch due the next morning for one of my classes, and it was the worst one I did the whole year.”

Lexa was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking hard. “I don’t think you could do a bad drawing, Clarke. I’ve seen your work.” With that, Lexa jogged down the remainder of the steps, waved a small goodbye, and hopped into Anya’s car. 

Clarke had stopped walking. ‘She’s seen my work?’ She asked herself. ‘Where?’ She shook her head to clear her thoughts. ‘It was probably just at school, some of my stuff is displayed sometimes.’ She walked towards her house and did not think any more about the interaction until she opened her sketchbook that night to what was supposed to be an empty page, but was now filled with someone else’s artwork.


	7. Chapter 7

Clarke stared down at the page, her mouth open with disbelief. Where there should have been a blank page, there were three surprisingly accurate drawings of herself. The first was not so bad—she was in a sports bra and shorts, looking down at her phone, likely a view from the locker room. The second was of Clarke in nothing but a towel, her face determined and staring straight out of the page. The last picture was the one that left Clarke’s mouth agape: it was Clarke from behind, her back foamy with soap. Only one person had seen that exact view recently. ‘Lexa.’ Clarke thought, feeling the twisting anxiety from earlier return. ‘If Lexa drew this that means… Fuck. She’s seen everything.’ 

She scanned the page again, looking for some sign that this was not Lexa. That it was just a joke Octavia was playing on her when she saw the note written with it. It read: “Esto es que yo lo pienso por la noche. Dime, Clarke: ¿Qué pensas a noche? Tu movida.” 

‘Spanish,’ Clarke thought, ‘I really need to learn that.’ Nevertheless, she pulled out her laptop, and carefully typed the words into a translator. Clarke stared at the screen in disbelief, beginning to feel that she was starting to have her jaw drop a little too often recently. 

The note translated to: “This is what I think about at night. Tell me, Clarke: What do you think about at night? Your move.” Clarke was sure it was from Lexa now. No one else would, one: write her a note in Spanish, or two: talk to her in such a direct and explicit way. 

Clarke finally blinked and allowed herself to think for a second. ‘What do I think about at night?’ She paused, ‘Why am I even trying to humor her? This is probably a joke to her. She’s just having a little fun.’

The blonde sat in her desk chair for a few more minutes before deciding that she, too, could have a little fun. She opened to a new page in her sketchbook and began to draw. After an hour or so, she was finished. Clarke put down her pencil and leaned back, stretching out her cramped back, and, for once, actually happy with her work.

She grinned down at the picture before her, knowing it was the perfect thing to put in Lexa’s locker. It was an image from that day in the shower, a look of fear painted across Lexa’s face, and her arms trying, and mostly failing, to cover her body. Clarke wrote a quick note that stated “I didn’t know you could draw.”

She snapped the sketchbook shut and began to get ready for bed. After her second shower of the day, Clarke sat down on her bed, staring into empty space. She thought of her homework for the week, and how stressed she was for the team’s first meet on Friday. Slowly, Clarke let her thoughts drift away. They kept coming back to that day in the shower with Lexa.

She kept trying to force herself to think of something else, but each time she came back, each time a little further from what had actually happened. First, Lexa had not tried to cover herself, then she had touched Clarke’s breasts… Gently… In circles. 

Clarke snapped out of her reverie. She had dropped the towel from around her chest and now had her hand on her own breast. She had been thinking of Lexa. ‘Fuck.’ 

Clarke stood up, and could not help but notice the discomfort she was in, and the way that her thighs were slicker than usual. She knew the thought of Lexa was turning her on, but she did not want to acknowledge that in the slightest. She was aware of her physical attraction to Lexa, but had thought that the distaste she held for the brunette canceled it out. ‘PEMDAS, am I right?’ Clarke silently joked, ‘I guess she has been nicer to me lately… but only because Anya told her to be. I don’t know what to think.’

Clarke went to the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. If she was not horny, she did not have to deal with her attraction to Lexa. 

The next day, Clarke skipped out of her last class a little early in order to truly be by herself in the locker room. She did not want anyone to see the fact that she was slipping nudes of Lexa into Lexa’s locker. It would be weird enough even if it was not her archrival. When Clarke arrived, the room was empty. She carefully opened Lexa’s locker and placed the sketchbook inside. 

Just as she was closing the locker, Octavia appeared.

“Hey Clar--what are you doing?” Octavia cut herself off, suspiciously staring at Lexa’s locker.

“Um, nothing, just getting ready.” Clarke took a fast step back and dropped her eye contact,

“Isn’t that Lexa’s locker?” Octavia said, still squinting at it, brows furrowed.

“What? Oh, haha, yeah. That’s so weird, I could have sworn it was mine.” Clarke quickly walked over to her own locker and pulled out her clothes. “That was so weird.” She nervously laughed.

“You’re a terrible liar, Clarke, and clearly up to something, but I’m going to let it go for now because I have too much homework this week to grill you about this. Just know I have my eye on you.” Octavia turned her eyes onto Clarke, and after a moment grinned. “Do you know what the workout is today? Because I might keel over if we do more 800s.”

Clarke felt her heart rate slow, ‘That was too close,’ she thought, ‘And for once, thank god for homework.’

She turned to her friend and grinned back, “I have no idea what the plan is for today, but I’m right along with you with the 800s.”

“Right in front of me.” Octavia teased, and unbeknownst to Clarke, sneaking a look into Lexa’s locker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, I should be able to wrap this up within two weeks. I think there's only going to be about three more chapters max. Next up: Their first meet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support, everyone! I really appreciate it. Also, this is a little late, but Spanish is not my first language so if I make any mistakes please feel free to tell me (nicely please lol). I hope you enjoy!

Clarke gripped her desk, her backpack already packed, staring at the second hand as it got closer to twelve. Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Clarke leaped out of her seat and quickly walked to the door. She glanced back to see her teacher shaking his head at her. “Good luck at your meet, Clarke. Run fast.”

Clarke laughed good-naturedly, “Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow!” As soon as she heard the door shut behind her, Clarke was off at full speed down the hallway, then the staircase, towards the locker room. It was the first meet of the season. Her last first meet. Her last chance to beat Lexa in the first meet. For the last three years, Lexa had beaten Clarke in the first meet of the season, and even though she knew that they were now technically on the same team, she desperately wanted to kick Lexa’s ass this time. 

Clarke burst into the locker room and hugged Octavia out of sheer excitement. “Woah, slow down, crazy. Are you excited or something?” Octavia joked, “God knows why you would be excited to run in a meet. I’ve gone pee twice since getting down here out of sheer nerves. No one wants to pee themselves on course.”

“I know, O, but I’m so ready to kick Lexa’s butt this year, I’ve been crushing her in the workouts lately.” Clarke bounced over to her locker, opened it, and smiled. Her sketchbook had been returned. She and Lexa had been passing it back and forth for the last few days with little notes and sketches, mostly sexual, but occasionally something more personal.

It did not seem to change the way they treated each other in real life though, they still got in petty arguments and fights, but writing was different. It meant they did not have to look each other in the eye, and they could rewrite things until there was no chance of misinterpretation, and there seemed to be an unspoken rule of no talking about running.

“You good, Clarke? You went quiet on me.” Octavia said, breaking Clarke out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m good, just getting in the zone.” Clarke replied, most definitely not getting in the zone. 

“Alright, I’m going to the bathroom. Again. I fucking hate my bladder.” When Octavia turned the corner into the bathroom, Clarke pulled out her sketchbook, eager to see what Lexa had written. 

It was the shortest message yet. Simple, but so powerful it completely threw off whatever mojo Clarke had. It read “Good luck today.”

Clarke suddenly felt like she was going to cry. Even though it said very little, Clarke could imagine that Lexa said it in the most biting tone possible. Lexa did give a shit about Clarke.  
‘I bet you she’s trying to throw me off before the race.’ Clarke thought. ‘I can’t believe she’d do this to me. That bitch. And to think I trusted her with my sketchbook.’

At that moment, Lexa strolled in. Clarke snapped the book shut, shoved it back in her locker, and glared at Lexa. Lexa smirked at her and walked over to her own locker. Lexa opened her mouth to say something when Octavia came back in the room. “Hey, Clarke, you ready to go? The bus is here.” 

“Uhh, yeah.” Clarke replied, desperately trying to quickly pull her sweatpants over her uniform’s spandex. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Octavia out of the locker room, trying to pretend that she did not see Lexa watching her leave.

Once on the bus, Clarke felt like she had lost the spirit she had had before reading Lexa’s note. She knew objectively that it was stupid for her to get so hung up on it and to let it distract her so much, but she could not help it. She wanted to know the look on Lexa’s face when she wrote it, the tone with which she would have said it out loud. ‘Whatever,’ Clarke thought, ‘I can’t believe I let myself think she liked me. I guess she was just trying to get in my head all along.’

“You seem quiet, have you lost your motivation to crush Lexa already?” Octavia asked, looking over at Clarke from the seat across from her. 

“Nah, I just got super tired all of a sudden. I don’t think I had enough water today.” Clarke said, letting out a breath of air she did not know she was holding in. 

“Okay, make sure you drink sooner rather than later. You know the deal.” Octavia reminded her.

“Of course, O, I think I’m going to try and nap for a bit before we get there.” Clarke was actually tired, that much was true, and pretty quickly fell asleep in her seat.

Clarke’s heart was pounding in her ears. She was posed at the start line, ready for the gun to go off. It felt like an eternity. She looked over at Lexa, who normally looked, so determined, so focused, and found that she was looking back at her. Clarke could have sworn she blushed when she looked away but figured it was just a trick of the light combined with the adrenaline coursing through both of them.

Finally, bang! The gun went off, and so did the runners. Clarke easily maneuvered into the front of the pack, her usual position, with Lexa in stride. Lexa elbowed her side, and whether it was on purpose or not, Clarke knew it was going to be a long seventeen minutes.

In the end, Clarke pulled out the last sprint and beat Lexa by less than half of a second. Clarke let out a half-hearted, “Yes!” in victory and promptly joined Lexa at the nearest trash can to throw up. She should not have had that sandwich for lunch. It did not taste half as good coming back up. Clarke was done long before Lexa and left as quickly as possible both to rinse out her mouth and to avoid Lexa. The win did not feel as good as she thought it would.

It did not seem to matter because half an hour later they ended up in the bathroom at the same time. Clarke stood washing her hands as Lexa walked out of a stall and joined her at the second sink.

“Hey, good job today.” The brunette said as she applied soap to her hands.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Clarke spat back.

“Just, good job. Nothing else.” Lexa looked at Clarke, confused.

“Yeah, okay, thanks.” Clarke muttered.

“I’m trying to be a gracious loser, Clarke, what’s your problem?” Lexa said.

“Gracious loser? Yeah, right. You always go low, Woods. You always have. And don’t call me Clarke!” Clarke’s voice was shaking with anger.

“What do you mean ‘I always go low’? I would have won today if I went low.” Her voice rose with every sentence until she was shouting, “You won, Clarke, be a good winner!” 

“I am a good winner! And don’t call me Clarke!” Clarke’s voice filled the room and echoed off the walls. 

“Literally, fuck you, Clarke, I’ll call you whatever the hell I want!” Lexa responded in equal volume. “I told you good luck today. What more can I do? I’m trying my best to be nice to you!”

“I know that was just a ploy to get in my head! You’ve been playing me this whole time! Guess what? It didn’t work! I still won!” Clarke yelled.

“Fuck you!” Lexa said again. Suddenly, she was on Clarke, her hands gripping her face, and kissing her. 

Clarke kissed her back for a moment before, just as quickly as she had started, Lexa pulled away. 

“I… I’ll see you on the bus.” Lexa said, not making eye contact with Clarke and rushing towards the door. Clarke just stood there, dumbfounded.


	9. Chapter 9

Clarke climbed on to the bus, still processing what had just happened. ‘She kissed me. Lexa Woods, the girl who, at least I thought, is my biggest rival, kissed me. And I liked it. Fuck.’

She plopped down by herself in a seat towards the back, Lexa many seats in front of her. Octavia, who was sitting across from Clarke, gave her a worried look, but as she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, Anya called for them to settle down.

“Ladies, listen up! The boy’s team’s bus won’t start, so instead of making them wait for a new one, we are just going to have to share. No whining! Two to a seat, let’s go! I want to go home.”

Clarke looked over at Octavia, wanting to talk to her about what had just happened between her and Lexa, but Octavia was busy waving to her boyfriend so he would come sit with her. Clarke accepted her fate as a third wheel, closed her eyes, and leaned against the window, waiting for someone to sit with her.

Clarke sat up when she felt the seat under her move as someone sat next to her. She opened her eyes only to find Lexa, who was looking at her with wide eyes and seemed as surprised as Clarke was.

“I, uh, there were no other seats.” Lexa said, awkwardly stuttering over her words. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” Clarke found herself saying and wondered, for a moment, how they were talking to each other. She looked desperately over to Octavia for help but found that Lincoln’s large body was turned sideways in the seat, and Clarke could not even see Octavia.

Clarke and Lexa made awkward small talk for another five minutes or so before Lexa finally said very softly, “Look, Clarke, I’m sorry for what I did in the bathroom. It was in the heat of the moment and I don’t know what possessed me to do it. I understand that it probably made you uncomfortable and—“

“No.” Clarke interrupted her, also whispering, “I—I liked it.”

Lexa looked up in surprise. “You did?”

“Yes. Are we just going to pretend that my sketchbook and everything within it does not exist?” 

“I don’t know why I did that, either. I wanted to make you uncomfortable, I guess.” Lexa looked back down, her hands not moving, interlaced in her lap.

Clarke felt the heat rising to her cheeks, and stayed quiet for a moment, not really sure how to respond. After what felt like forever, she turned and looked at Lexa. “Is all this a play to get back at me? You have to understand why I don’t totally trust you.”

Lexa stared down at her lap and said so quietly Clare could barely hear. “Not this time.” Lexa clenched her jaw and finally looked at Clarke. “I don’t know when I stopped screwing with you and when it started being, I don’t know, something legit. The line is very blurry.”

“Oh, okay.” Clarke replied stupidly.

“Do you know when you stopped fucking around with me, Clarke?” Lexa asked. She was being more straight forward and genuine than Clarke had ever heard.

“I don’t know. Sometime after that time in the showers.” 

“Yeah.” Lexa smiled softly and looked back down at her hands. They did not say much to each other for the rest of the ride home. Clarke could not seem to find any words that expressed how she felt. 

When they arrived back at school, the two teams filled down to their separate locker room and one by one headed home. Clarke took a long shower so she could mull over the day’s events and when she got out, she could hear another shower still running. 

The locker room was deserted and Clarke was taking her time getting dressed, still lost in her own thoughts. Her head snapped up when she heard the sound of flip flops on the locker room floor. Of course, it was Lexa.

Lexa did not seem surprised to see Clarke and after shifting her towel so it was comfortably situated around her waist, she turned to give Clarke her sketchbook. Lexa looked almost startled to see Clarke’s jaw practically on the floor.

Lexa quickly pulled her towel back up over her chest. “Sorry,” she murmured, “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Clarke closed her mouth and did her best to stop blushing. “No worries, Woods, I get it.” 

“Hey, Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

“You can call me Lexa.”

Clarke smiled. “Okay, Lexa.” Lexa’s name felt strange on her tongue, but she liked saying it a lot more than Woods.

Lexa turned away to put her clothes on, but not fast enough to hide her blush. Clarke still felt incredibly nervous around the other girl, but she no longer felt afraid. Lexa was not her enemy anymore. In this moment, Clarke felt brave.

“Lexa?”

“Yeah?” The brunette turned back around. She had her towel around her waist again, but this time she had a shirt on too.

“Can I kiss you?” Clarke asked before she completely lost her nerve.

Lexa did not respond. Instead, she stepped forward, cupped Clarke’s face in her hand, and leaned in to kiss her.

This time their kiss was slow and soft. There was no anger behind it, no fighting. Clarke reached up and rested her hand on Lexa’s neck, her thumb on Lexa’s jawline. Clarke deepened the kiss, and Lexa gently pushed Clarke back against the lockers, her thigh naturally falling in between Clarke’s legs. 

Clarke felt Lexa’s towel fall to the floor and with that, the moment was over. Lexa quickly pulled away and even more quickly had her towel back around her waist. She looked at Clarke. “What should we tell the team?” 

“Nothing yet. We can talk about it later. It’s not worth the trouble.”

“You’re probably right,” Lexa responded. “They might get suspicious though.”

Clarke bit her lip, thinking. “I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. Let’s just try to act normal at practice.”

“Even the fighting?”

“Well, maybe not the fighting.” Clarke said, smiling a little.

“Then they’ll definitely be on to us.” Lexa joked.

Clarke laughed. “Knowing us, we’ll find something to fight about, don’t worry.”

“I don’t want to fight with you anymore.” Lexa said, suddenly serious.

“Me either.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back at it again. I thought this was going to be the second to last chapter but I think I still have two more. We'll see I guess haha. There is a small time jump from the last chapter to this one, and again I've only taken Spanish at the high school level, so if it's incorrect please let me know! Thanks for sticking with me!

Clarke laid in her bed, late on a Thursday night, her computer in her lap. Originally, she was attempting to check in on her application to the Rhode Island School of Design, to make sure she had everything in, but she quickly got distracted because as it had been for the last three months or so, the only thing on her mind was Lexa. 

‘I can’t believe we’ve been dating for an entire month.’ Clarke thought to herself. She immediately felt a little silly for thinking that one month was such a long time. However, she could not help but feel butterflies at the thought. Clarke let her mind drift back to the past few months. 

It felt like a lifetime ago that Lexa had kissed her for the first time, but in reality, it had only been two months. A smile graced Clarke’s lips as she laughed at how nervous she had been to officially ask Lexa to be her girlfriend after a month of very clear indications that she was interested in Clarke. Regardless, Lexa had still blushed when she read the note in Clarke’s sketchbook. ‘Well, our sketchbook.’ Clarke thought, blushing a little herself.

Clarke rolled over onto her side and reached for her phone on the bedside table. 

“Hey, you awake?” She texted Lexa.

After a few minutes, Lexa finally replied. “Yeah, you okay? You’re normally long asleep by now, you grandma.”

Clarke smiles at the jest, typing back, “At least I get enough sleep. No wonder I beat you all the time.”

“Shut up, Clarke”

“You’re just jealous of me. Anyway, I was wondering, because it is our one month tomorrow if you wanted to sleep over? My mom is working the night shift.”

“I want to, but my parents… I don’t know if I’ll have a ride, or even be allowed. They just know you as my biggest rival, not my girlfriend.”

“I love it when you call me your girlfriend. It gives me butterflies. Tell your parents we have to work on some captain shit or something. We can walk to my house together after practice so that way you don’t need a ride.” Clarke sucked in her breath, hoping for something good.

“Alright, alright, I’ll ask my parents tomorrow. You should get to bed, grandma.”

Clarke smiled and was about to close her eyes when her phone buzzed. It was from Lexa.

“And for the record, I love calling you my girlfriend.”

Clarke sighed and hugged her phone to her chest. The butterflies were running rampant, escaping her stomach and flying up into her chest. She almost let out a squeal of joy, but the thought embarrassed her too much to follow through.

The next day at practice, Lexa and Clarke were both all smiles, to the point where their teammates noticed. One of their teammates from Polis, Clarke, for the life of her, could not remember her name, turned to Lexa said rather snidely “¿Qué? ¿Por fin te la jodes?” Clarke made eye contact with Lexa and broke it just as quickly, worried.

Lexa laughed, as hard as one could while running a seven minute pace, and responded “Ay, chica, tú desea que estaba recibiendo algunos.”

“Ha! Yeah! Maybe you wouldn’t have such a stick up your ass then!” The two girls laughed and Clarke could not help but feel a little left out.

As soon as the other girl slowed out of earshot, Clarke asked Lexa what had been said. 

Lexa looked back to make sure no one was close to them and then, keeping her head looking forward, said “She thinks I’m sleeping with you.” 

Clarke whipped her head towards Lexa. “What? You’re kidding, right? What did you say?” 

“Clarke, don’t look at me. I don’t want them to know we’re talking.” Clarke looked forwards again. “And I denied it, don’t worry. It was mostly just a joke.”

Clarke let out a breath she did not know she was holding in. “Good. Okay. I think,” she paused her thought as they ran up a large hill. “I think that we should tell them soon. They’re already suspicious about how friendly we’ve gotten. It won’t hurt them.”

“Maybe.” The pair did not speak much more for the rest of their run. 

Clarke and Lexa stood shoulder to shoulder in the locker room facing their respective lockers. After they had made it official, Lexa had quietly moved her stuff into the locker next to Clarke’s, claiming that “someone else was clearly using her usual locker during the school day, and that this one was the only one open.” Clarke did not buy it for a second, but she did not really care. She liked being closer to her girlfriend.

A few of the Polis girls walked in whispering and glancing at the two captains. Lexa looked back and glared at them until they were out of sight. Clarke quietly took Lexa’s pinky in hers. “Hey,” she whispered, “It’s going to be okay. Let’s just get out of here. We can shower at my house.” 

Lexa nodded and started to pack her stuff, sliding her pinky out of Clarke’s to grab her backpack. As they were leaving the locker room Clarke looked back to double-check she had not left anything, only to make eye contact with Octavia. Clarke grimaced a little and turned back to looking out the door, knowing that she would receive a text about it later. 

As soon as the doors swung closed behind them, Lexa slowly reached out and grabbed Clarke’s pinky with hers and then, even slower, interlaces their fingers. Clarke smiled and pulled Lexa a little closer to her, gently kissing the brunette's cheek.


End file.
